Furnace retort



Aug. 26, 1924. 1,506,140

C. H. SMITH FURNACE RETORT Filed Sept. 9, 1918 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IIVVENTOR I BY I ,y/s ATT sum.

Aug. 26, 1924. 1,506,140

C. H. SMITH FURNACE RETORT Filed Sept. 9. 1918 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 2

INVENTOR M WM AW 9%; M

# ATTORNEYS.

Patented Aug. 26, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES HOWARD SMITH, OF SHORT HILLS, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO INTER- NATIONAL COAL PRODUCTS CORPORATION, OF RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, A CORPORA- TION OF VIRGINIA.

FURNACE RETORT.

Application filed September 9, 1918. Serial No. 253,189.

To all whom 2'15 may concern:

Be it known that I, Cimmins HowAno SMITH, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Short Hills, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have in vented certain new and useful Improvements in Furnace Retorts, of which the fol lowing is a specification.

The invention relates to a combined furnace and retort frequently herein referred to as a furnace retort. The furnace retort which is the subject of the present invention has been particularly designed and constructed to effect a partial distillation or partial carbonization of coal in order to eliminate a part of the volatile hydrocarbons contained in the coal and in order to obtain a uniformly but partially distilled residue.

According to the construction shown the retort of the furnace retort, where exposed to the heat of the fires of the furnace, is of a suitable metal, as calorized steel, adapted to withstand the heat necessary to effect the partial distillation or carbonization of the coal within the retort, and because this portion of the retort is of metal heat can be readily transmitted through the metal to the coal 'or charge being treated within the retort. One end of the retort is referred to as the forward or charging end, since itis at this end that the coal to be treated is fed into the retort by suitable feeding means. At the other end of the retort there is provided the discharge passageway or conduit with suitable sealing means for preventing the entrance of air into the retort and it is through this passageway or conduit that the partially distilled coal or coal residue is delivered from the rear or discharge end of the retort.

The portion of the retort exposed to the heat of the furnace fires is preferably in the form of a horizontally and longitudinally extending tubular shell that is in cross-section of modified inverted heart-shape and within this shell there is preferably located a pair of parallel longitudinally extending paddle carrying shafts constituting a mixing and conveying means for mixing the charge within the retort and for progressively conveying the charge from the forward or charging end of the retort to the discharging end thereof.

According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention the ends of the retort are in part provided by vertically and transversely extending outer end plates upon which there are carried spherical seats for bearings that in turn carry the shafts above referred to.

Mention has heretofore been made of the means for feeding the coal to the interior of the retort and of the mixing and conveying means that comprises the paddle carrying shafts. The feeding means and the mixing and conveying means can both be operated from a common source of power, to wit, from a motor.

The invention is directed to the features of construction above referred to and which are hereinafter clearly set forth and described in detail and clearly pointed out.

As showing a. specific embodiment of the invention reference is made to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and in which drawings,

Figure 1 is a vertical and longitudinal sectional view showing the upper portion of the furnace retort. In this figure there clearly appears the mixing and conveying means and there is also indicated the feeding means.

Figure 2 is a vertical transverse sectional view of the tubular metallic shell of the retort, and

Figure 3 is a view partially in section showing the construction whereby one end of one of the shafts of the paddle carrying shafts is supported on one of the end plates; each end of each paddle carrying shaft is carried on its corresponding end plate in the same manner.

Referring now to the several parts in detail 1 designates a furnace retort, the retort proper of which is designated by 2 and the furnace proper by 3. The retort 2 has a horizontally and longitudinally extending tubular metallic shell 4 which is of modified inverted heart-shape in cross-section, as clearly shown in Figure 2. This tubular shell 4 is made up of calorized steel plates united together, as will hereinafter more fully appear, so as to form a complete tube built up from collected plates. This tubular shell may be referred to as the peripheral portion of the retort and it is reinforced at several places along its length by rings or bands 5 of rolled flanged material, to wit,

steel. The material from which these rings or bands are made may be in the form of deck-beam material or of modified channel or of any other shape suitable to perform the desired function. These rings or hands constitute a. set of spaced reinforcing ribs which tend to hold the tubular shell in proper shape and against distortion due to the heat to which it is necessarily subjected. The tubular shell is connected to these rings, bands or ribs as by'riveting. Each ring, band or rib 5' is made up of a number of members 7 which are spliced together as by plates 8.

The furnace proper is provided with a number of vertically and transversely extending partitions or diaphragms 9. The ribs above referred to either rest upon or are engaged 'by these transversely extending partitions or diaphragms 9 with the result that a combustion chamber 10 of the furnace is sub-divided into a number .of combustion spaces 11 arranged along the tubular shell and on the exterior thereof. These combustion spaces or chambers constitute a part of the heating system and maybe part of a heating system which is clearly shown in my copending application Serial No. 233,422, filed May 9th 1918 entitledjFurnace retorts and, therefore, further description of the heating systemds unnecessary at this time. The calorized steel which is employed in the making of the tubular shell is in short made in the following manner:

Rolled steel plates of the desired thickness are covered with powdered aluminum and placed in a retort or oven having a nonoxidizing atmosphere and heated at approximately 1800 F. for about ten hours. he resulting product is well adapted to withstand high temperatures, much higher than the ordlnary steel would withstand if it had not been subjected to such a process. Calorized steel is a commercial product known in the trade. The tubular shell is made up of a number of steel plates, as 12, 13, 14, 15, etc. and the adjacent ends of adjacent plates are'united, as by welding, for example, alon the lines it. In making the weld additional material may be used to complete it, and to fill any voids between the adjacent edges of the\ plates. There is also "preferably employed, strips, as 18, which are riveted to adjacent ends of adjacent plates to further. strengthen the connection between the plates.

In Figure 2 there is shown a set of companion parallel angle members, as 19, the

vertically extending flanges 20 of which are secured together as by rivets and the downwardly and outwardly extending flanges 21 of. which are, respectively, secured as by rivets to the ends of the plates to which they are adjacent. The retort also has vertically and transversely extending outer there is located masonry construction, as 28' and 29 respectively. The means for feeding the coal into the orward end of the retort is designated by 30 While the passageway or conduit through which the coal residue is discharged from the retort is designated as 31. Said passageway or conduit is in the form of a tube, as 32, of sheet metal which is welded at 33 to the shell of calorized steel and the lower end of the tube is sealed in any suitable manner as by rotary sealing means 34.

Referring now to the feeding means 30, it Will be observed that said feeding means comprises a hopper 36 suitably connected to the front end of a pipe or trough 37. The rear end of the pipe or trough 37 is connected to the front end plate 22 and is supported thereby and extends through the head portion of the retort to a position where it can deliver coal to the interior of the retort. This rear end of the pipe or trough may therefore be said to rest upon or be supported by the forward head of the retort. The hopper 36 is supported through the medium of braces 40 the forward ends of which are riveted thereto. The upper rear ends of said braces 40 are connected to the upper portion of the transversely and vertically extending plate 22.

Referring now to the bearing construction shown in Figure 3, one end ofa paddle carrying shaft is designated by 42 and it has a trunnion 43 carrying thereupon a main gearing 44. The trunnion 43 has a suitable caring in a hollowbearing member 45, the latter of which has a spherical portion 46 that rests in a spherical seat 47 of the spherical seat member 48, the members 45 and 48 iponstitutinga ball and socket bearing. This iember 48 is mounted upon an annular member 49 flanged at each end, as at 50 and 51. The outer flange 50 is riveted, as at 52, to the vertically and transversely extend ing end plate, as 22, while the inner flange 51 has connected to it the spherical seat member 48. The hollow bearing member 45 has flanged portions, or a flange as 53, and bolts, as 54, extending through the spherical seat member 48, inner flange 51 of the annular member 49, and the projecting portion or flange 53. Each bolt 54 has nuts 55 and a washer 56. Between the washers 56 on the one hand and the projections or flange 53 on the other there are provided springs, as 57, which maintain the spherical portion of the hollow bearing member 45 in place against the seat. The result of this construction is a universal bearing which allows the yielding of the hollow bearing member 45 to adapt itself to varying conditions.

The furnace which is the basis of the present application is adapted for use in performing the invention shown and described in my United States Letters Patent No. 1,276,429 granted August 20, 1918 and particularly in the performing of the initial distilling operation described in said patent as being carried out in the furnace F of said patent. 1

During the initial or preliminary distilling or carbonizing operation which is described in said patent as being carried out in the furnace F the coal being treated is graduall and progressively heated until it is uni omnly heated throughout and until a maximum temperature, varyin for example from approximately 825 egrees F. to 1200 degrees F is reached, and during this heating the tar vapors are largely removed.

The improvements herein set forth are not limited to the precise construction and arrangement shown and described for they may be embodied in various forms and modlbe fications without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. A furnace retort having a vertically and transversely extendi' end plate, a lonitudinally rotating shg t located within t e retort, an annular member flanged at each end, one of said flanges being connected to said end plate, a member having a spherical socket and secured in place to the flange at the other end of the member, a bearing member in which there is seated a trunnion on said shaft, which bearing member has an outer spherical portion that fits the socket member, and spring means extending from the socket member to the bearing member for maintainin the bearing member against its socket mem er.

2. A furnace retort having a vertically and transversely extending outer end plate, a vertically and transversely extending innor lining late, masonry between said plates, a pa dle carrying shaft which extends through said plates and masonry, an annular member having a flange which is riveted to the outer end plate, a bearing member for said shaft which bearing member has a spherical portion upon the exte rior thereof, a corresponding spherical seat member carried on the flange at the inner end of the annular member, bolts extending through the seat member, the inner flange and an ear or lug on the bearing member, and spring means between the nut on the bolt on the one hand and the lugs on the bearing member on the other for forcing the bearing member against its seat mem- Specification signed and witnessed this 6th day of Se tember A. D, 1918.

CHA LES HOWARD SMITH.

Signed in the presence out- EDWIN A. PACKARD, ARTHUR P. VERMILYA. 

